| Tuesday, March 28 |
Luke 8:50 |
When Jesus heard this, he replied, “Do not be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved.”
‘ONLY BELIEVE’
In the Gospel of Luke 8, Jesus is in full force, performing miracles and spreading the word.
Jesus chides the apostles who are with him in a boat during a storm, asking them where their faith is because they fear drowning even though he is with them. A woman just touches the hem of Jesus’ robe and, because her faith in him is so strong, she is cured. Then there is the story of a synagogue leader whose daughter is dying, so he follows Christ begging him to cure the girl.
When someone comes from the leader’s house to say the daughter is dead and it is too late, Christ assures the leader: “Do not be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved.” Many — like some at the leader’s house — would scoff. Dead is dead, right? The leader does have faith, and Christ returns the spirit to the girl, and she lives. Faith is so important in Luke 8 — and it is important today.
I will confess, though, that sometimes my faith lags. When things are going bad or difficult in my life or the life of my family, I will pray — I will plead — for God to help us, to fix whatever it is that is wrong. So when that does not happen, does that mean my faith is lacking? Is it smaller than a mustard seed? Or perhaps it is misguided?
On the other hand, maybe God is answering me, but not in ways that I can perceive. Maybe I am getting not what I want but what I need. This is something I’m never quite sure about, so then I wonder — is my faith not as strong as some friends who feel more confident than I that God is responding?
I will say this: My faith is strong enough that, in spite of moments of doubt and uncertainty, I keep going back to it because I do have faith that God is there with us, that God cares for us, loves us, supports us. So maybe what I am being given is not as obvious as the woman cured of her bleeding or the daughter brought back to life. It is enough, however, that I rely on my faith and I keep trying to increase my faith. Jesus told us to have faith, and I will follow his lead on that.
Dear Lord: Please help me increase and strengthen my faith in moments of doubt and worry. Jesus said to have faith and that he would be there with us, and I believe it with my heart. Amen
Ken Hobart
[Yesterday |Lenten Index | Tomorrow]